Review Arti Effect of Supervised Physiotherapy in Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Ankylosing spondylitis affects the most productive period of life. Mainstay of treatment of this condition is physiotherapy along with the pain killing medications. Passive stretching and intensive in-patient physiotherapy courses have been offered in western countries. All these courses are in-patient based physiotherapy programs. In this setting, Supervised Physiotherapy, a form of out- patient based therapy was offered to find out its effectiveness among these patients. A prospective case control study was carried out over 135 patients with AS in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (the then IPGMR), Dhaka. The study was done during a period of 8 years from March 1992 to April 2000 to see the effectiveness of the supervised physiotherapy. 127 subjects, 65 in group (Supervised Physiotherapy) and 62 in the group B (control group) have completed the study. At the end of six months study period all the parameters in the supervised group are significantly improved (P<0.001), except intermaleolar straddle of the female patients. Parameters for the female patients are also improved but not significantly. All the parameters in the control group hav